Community Karate school awards its students

The Lion Budokan Karate School in Auckland hosted its annual award ceremony on December 3 at New Windsor School Auditorium in New Windsor.

The Lion Budokan Karate International is a member of Karate New Zealand and New Zealand Martial Arts Institute and is run by Sensei, Syed Mohiuddin, Black Belt 4th Dan.

Sixty students were presented with their grading certificates and 25 were awarded trophies in recognition of their performance during the year.

The awards were divided into 16 categories such as Bright Future Athletes, Newcomer of the Year, Fighter of the Year, Kick Athlete, Sportsmanship Award, Outstanding Effort, Volunteer of the Year, and Assistant Instructor of the Year.

In addition to excelling in the categories, the students must follow dojo rules (Training Hall rules) to be eligible for the awards. The dojo rules were to seek perfection of character, give ones’ best, refrain from violence, be faithful and honest, and be respectful.

President of Karate New Zealand Hanshi Dennis May was the chief guest at the award ceremony.

More than 70 students learn martial arts at the Lion Budokan Karate School from Sensei Syed Mohiuddin at three different branches in Central Auckland. The classes are held in the community halls of New Windsor Primary school in New Windsor, Mt Roskill Intermediate School in Mt Roskill, and Bay Roskill Sports Club in Blockhouse Bay. Students as young as six years old to 58 years old have enrolled in the school.

Learning self-defence is an important aspect of life, and it is a sport that makes an individual stronger, both mentally and physically.

Martial art has many benefits for an individual such as self-defence, improved focus, developing confidence and sportsmanship.

“Every student was encouraged and motivated by the chief guest, whether they won the trophy or not. We look forward to improving their training and prepare them for the next year awards ceremony,” Syed Mohiuddin, the teacher from the Karate School, said.

There are nine belts to attain before one can fight for the black belt. The students start with yellow belt progressing to green, orange, blue, purple, brown four stripes, brown three stripes, brown two stripes, brown one stripe then the black belt.

It takes four to five months to clear each stage up to brown four stripes, and from Brown three stripes and above, the duration to clear each stage becomes six months.

The event concluded with the speech of Hanshi Dennis May, President of Karate New Zealand. He spoke about Karate being included in Olympic 2020 and the opportunity our Karate players would have to represent New Zealand on a global platform.